There was a decision made today to put aside the weekend slog of Getting Stuff Done – it was long overdue, time to walk up a hill. We tackled the Flagstaff track, to the west of the city and wandering up high above, with incredible views. The light and colours were just stunning, so glad we did this. Happy Sunday everyone xx

and so far I have enjoyed the #100daychallenge, but am surprised to find that it is easier to take photo’s during the week than it is the weekend, when the whole idea was to put a bomb under my week routines.

and so far it is interesting to go through the process of photographing across the day and uploading to my computer, picking my favourite, only to then send the photos to my phone to be made smaller and square in my Instagram feed.

and so far I have found myself walking with a lot more intention, looking around, noticing, thinking possibilities. I love the way photography makes me ‘see’ more.

I am now on day 9 of my #100daychallenge – a photo a day for 100 days. Here are a few of my favourites from the past week. One of the challenges to start with has been the fact that I have chosen to start this photographic challenge during a rather dramatic cold snap at the end of a very mild winter. Mental battle number one has been avoiding the pull to make the photo’s cheerful and bright – it’s winter, capture the beauty as it is. There have been some fails, and hopefully some wins. If you would like to follow my challenge I am posting daily on Instagram x

Over the past couple of months I have spent quite a bit of time considering where I am. It’s interesting that when you leave somewhere you have been based for a very long time you can feel, in the new space, not quite sure what you are supposed to be doing with your time. I guess in the previous home I had all of my habits and rituals entrenched, and knew exactly what I did when I got home from work, or woke up on a Sunday morning. Part of the excitement of a new home was the chance to re-think and re-invent that cycle of living – not to suggest that it was flawed, more that it was time to welcome some change. What I did not necessarily count on was the wherever you go there you are factor – we moved and I began to repeat some of the habits that were in need of some change. It’s not exactly rocket science is it – like a new place was going to afford a new me! Clearly, that is far too simplistic a way of thinking about it. It has, however, highlighted how much I did want things in my life to perhaps take a different course.

Rightio – so how, exactly, do you change? I think that’s probably one of those questions that shortly gets followed by a bunch of uncomfortable throat clearings, a little shuffling of the feet, and eyes turned towards the ground. There is no simple answer – ya gotta put in the work. There is a theory that to affect any real change you have to stick with something for 100 days – to reset your thinking, create new habits, or change the way you do something. So this is what I have decided to do – for 100 days I am going to take a photograph every day. I obviously already take quite a few photos, but wanted to work with something that really makes my heart sing, and something that I truly enjoy.

My plan is to push my ability with the camera, try new things, have a go at looking at things from a different angle. I have also decided not to give myself any rules about format – it may be with my SLR, but it may also simply be with my phone. 100 days is actually rather a long tome and I think it wise to start with something that doesn’t feel too hard, but allows some re-thinking along with some creativity thrown in for extra merit. Funnily the New Zealand chapter of the 100 Days project is actually starting up in a few weeks, if this idea tickles your fancy and you would like to get involved in the bigger picture you can join here. And if you would like a little help, advice, or guidance on choosing an idea this podcast by Elise Blaha-Cripe is especailly good, and comes from two people who have just finished the project successfully. And yes the first thing they say is pick something you find easy, because if it’s hard at the start you will never last at 100 days of it!

Day 1 of 100 – These photo’s are from a walk Mia and I took to a local park – it has been cold with snow showers today, and the light and colours have been just amazing.

After a friend shared some photo’s recently of a weekend spent away with her daughter, Mia and I decided to directly steal this idea and planned a trip, just the two of us, to Christchurch. We created an enormous playlist on Spotify for the trip, 105 songs for the big drive there and back, which pretty much had us singing the whole way. With stops in a few small towns to check out Op Shops, have a snack, and chat with the locals, we are now convinced that Temuka is our new favourite town. So with just four days to ourselves we planned zoo visits, shopping trips, dinners out, and a little wandering around to just soak in the sites. Christchurch has obviously been through a lot since the earthquakes in 2011, and the last time I was there the entire central town area was blocked off with much demolition and building going on. You can now get into the centre, and it’s heartening to see the progress and re-build that has been achieved so far. There is interactive installation art dotted all over the place which, when I mentioned this on social media, a Christchurch based friend replied and next time you come it will be different again! Wonderful.

Mia and I have decided to make this girls weekend a yearly thing – and have named it Mamma-Mia. It was a wonderful time for us both – time spent just being together with no other distractions to shift our focus. What shall we do with our time next year I wonder?

This is our new home, on top of a hill, looking down a valley. We have been here now for just over two months, and we have discovered something over these two months – we own way too much Stuff. It starts with the need to move all the Stuff from one house to the next, sorting, throwing out, boxing, prioritising, picking up, putting down, stacking and stashing. Then there is the need to transport it, pay some people to help, then walk up and down 75 steps what feels like 75 million times. Once that is over, well, there is Stuff everywhere. Really, everywhere. And where are we 2 months later? There is still Stuff everywhere. Despite our best efforts to find spaces and places there is just quite simply far too much. We are throwing out what seems to be a minimum of a box per week, yet the Stuff pile doesn’t really feel like it’s going down. It’s everywhere, in piles of I don’t know what to do with it, around the house just waiting to be dealt with.

Well, this is the point where I throw down the gauntlet, kick up a tantrum like a two year old in a supermarket, and strike Stuff in the face with my gloves whilst challenging it to a dual. I have had enough, Stuff can go jump off a cliff for all I care. The moment I opened a box of I don’t know what to do with it and realised this same box had held the same issue 9 years ago when I opened and closed it at the last home, and it was making my heart feel heavy. Time to do something about this. Obviously the issue also sits with going through the Stuff so it can be sorted and organised or simply thrown out, but that in itself is emotionally draining and time-consuming work This sucks, how did we ever let it get to this? Don’t get me wrong, we own just as much as the last person, no more, but when we moved home something in our thinking shifted too. This Stuff weighs you down. This is not a new or unique problem, as the hundreds of thousands of Minimalists will attest, and in no way will we ever become Minimalists because there are some things which bring us great joy but the current problem is that those things are lost under too much Stuff. As Rob Bell put it ‘Physical things have a Spiritual weight’. Yes, yes they do.

So we have a rule for addressing Stuff, and some guidelines to help with clarity.

Do you LOVE it? This is about a 5 second thing – you know straight away if you pause the answer is no. Your heart knows the answer and is extremely honest about it to boot.

Are you keeping it just in case? This is a terrible reason to keep things! The it might be useful someday for… fills those cupboards, sheds and garages faster than anything else. And invariably the one time you do reach for that just in case thing it was not the right fit/size/colour anyway

Are you keeping it because someone gave it to you? I think, for me, this Stuff has the heaviest spiritual weight. It’s hard when you have something that you don’t want or just isn’t your thing any more, yet you feel bound to hold on to it because it was gifted to you. I remind myself that I do not expect people to keep things I have given them forever, I gift something purely for that moment, I do not look around someones home wondering where that thing I bought/made/sourced is, and I sincerely hope there is no one out there thinking they have to hold on to something because I gave it to them. (If so this is your Permission Slip to let it go) Hopefully the people in my life have a fairly similar view.

There are obvious exceptions to the above, some Stuff you can’t get rid of, you need to hold on to it because it is simply too loaded an item, and that’s ok too, but as a starting point these three questions work exceptionally well. Right, off to attack another box then…

Today – at Warrington Beach – a truly favourite spot. Later in the day the earth threw out such beautiful light. The colours were muted and soft, moving slowly across the spectrum, a wintry warmth that belied how very chilly it actually was. We still found ourselves walking the beach with joy – there has not been a lot of this quiet time in the past months, so much to do and organise. I look forward to spending a lot more time in this way.. and it’s nice to wander again with camera in hand.